TRAMP, the next generation data acquisition system for RTP

The Rijnhuizen Tokamak Project (RTP) is a medium-sized tokamak experiment that requires a very reliable data-acquisition system due to its pulsed nature. Analyzing the limitations of an existing CAMAC-based data-acquisition system showed that a substantial increase of performance and flexibility could best be obtained by the construction of an entirely new system. This system, called TRAMP (transient recorder and Amoeba multiprocessor), is based on tailor-made transient recorders with a multiprocessor computer system in VME running Amoeba. The performance of TRAMP exceeds the performance of the CAMAC system by a factor of four. Plans to increase flexibility and performance are presented. >